Resting Place
by KateMarie999
Summary: Hiccup and Astrid are reunited with their daughter, Kara, and her new friend, Sven, as Berk goes to war with the Outcasts and the Berserkers. As the battles rage, they discover some horrifying secrets about each other and about their enemies. Will anything ever be the same again? Sequel to Fight or Flight and Pirate's Cove.
1. Prologue: Premature

_Welcome to the final story in the trilogy! I've enjoyed writing it and I'm sure you've enjoyed reading it._

**Prologue: Premature**

The pain was blinding. She could hear nothing but her own ragged gasps for air and the occasional scream that came from somewhere deep inside of her.

"Push, Astrid, _push_!"

Astrid cried out again, partially from the pains but mostly out of anguish. _This couldn't be happening_! She hadn't gained enough weight. She had only just begun to feel movements. It was too soon.

"I can't do this!" she wailed, panting and covered in sweat. "It's not time yet!"

"I'm sorry but it's too late now." The midwife explained, looking very calm.

"Where's Hiccup?" she gasped. "He should be here. Where is he?"

The midwife shook her head. "I don't know. We've already sent Ruffnut looking for him. There isn't any more we can do."

Astrid lay back on the pillow, tears flowing from her eyes. She screamed as another wave of overwhelming pain took over her body. She had never felt pain like this before. There was no escape from it.

"_Push_, Astrid!" the midwife prompted.

It wasn't as though she had any choice. She felt helpless to her body's instincts. If only Hiccup could be here. Throughout their marriage, she had always been the strong one. Now she felt helpless and terrified. All she wanted was her husband to kiss her and tell her everything was going to be all right.

"That's it! It's almost here!" the midwife exclaimed.

The room was spinning. The pains were beginning to take over completely. She felt oddly disconnected from her body. Before she had recovered from the last, another contraction hit her so hard, she gasped for air.

"He's here!" the midwife said, her voice oddly strangled.

_It's a boy_. Astrid lay back down as the pain receded.

It was completely silent. She could hear her own heartbeat pounding in her ears. The midwife looked horrified for a moment, grabbing a knife and slicing through the umbilical cord.

"Is he okay?" Astrid asked at last when the midwife stood up, holding her son. "Why isn't he crying?"

But the midwife didn't answer. She sprinted into the other room, the baby in her arms.

"What's wrong?" Astrid cried.

She tried to get up but her shaking arms wouldn't support her weight. She lay back down and stared at the ceiling, taking deep breaths. The pains lessened considerably. At the very least, she was relieved.

The door flew open and Hiccup, soaked from the rain outside, hurried over to his wife.

"Astrid!" he fell to his knees and took her hand in his. "I'm so sorry! I had no idea!"

She shook her head. "Hiccup, something's wrong with our baby."

He looked up at the other room. It was awfully silent in there. Gripped with terror, he looked back at his wife. Her face was completely pale. He hoped she hadn't lost too much blood.

"Everything… everything's going to be fine." He leaned down and kissed her pale cheek, trying to act as though he really believed what he was saying.

The midwife emerged and from the look on her face, they knew it wasn't good news.

"I'm so sorry." she said very quietly, purposefully avoiding their gaze. "I did everything I could. He was… he was too small."

He felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. This wasn't supposed to happen. He was supposed to be a father now. They were going to raise this baby together. He couldn't bring himself to speak; he felt as though the floor had dropped and he was falling through nothingness.

"What… how…" Astrid asked, still breathing heavily.

"It's… customary to give him a burial." The midwife said, still avoiding their eyes. "I'll wrap him up. You should wait until tomorrow. It's too dark outside."

Hiccup got out the baby blankets he had carried with him since he had found out Astrid was pregnant. He had always wanted to feel like his baby was close to him even when he wasn't able to be close to Astrid. He handed her the one they would have given their child if it was a boy. She looked at the blanket.

"That would have been a great name." she said, staring at the sewn letters.

He nodded, placing the blanket he would have used had it been a girl in his pocket. He didn't want to think about what he would do with it now.

"I'll wrap him in this. You should get some sleep, Astrid. There's a chair for you, Hiccup." She pointed over to a nearby chair and turned to take the blanket into the other room. She then walked away, probably to prepare their tiny son for burial.

As soon as she left, Astrid and Hiccup stared at each other. She was still breathing heavily. He kissed her cheek.

"I'm sorry…" he whispered, holding her head in his arms as a few tears slipped out of her eyes.

"Don't." she whispered back. "Not now."

He nodded and kissed her on the forehead. His arms tightened around her. He knew the next few months were going to be the most painful he'd ever had but he was going to be strong. It was her turn to lean on him. Nothing would _ever _be the same again.

* * *

**Twenty Years Later**

* * *

Astrid heard her husband's footsteps long before she saw him bounding to the house, his dragon running to catch up and his hand gripping a small cloth. She barely had time to wonder what was going on before he was right in front of her. He grabbed her shoulders.

"Hiccup, what…"

"Something's wrong!" he said, now holding up the cloth far too close to her face.

She pushed back the blanket and her heart felt suddenly frozen when she realized what it was.

"You dug him up?" she asked in horror.

"What?" Hiccup looked very confused for a second. "No… no, no, no, Tuffnut's dragon did that. It was an accident. But look! He's not here!"

The way he was brandishing the cloth around, she didn't get a very good look at it. She stared at him, trying to figure out where his mind was going.

"Do you think his body was stolen?" she asked, her facing paling at the thought.

He shook his head. "Maybe, I don't know. I've been thinking about that day, Astrid, we never even _saw_ him."

Astrid shook her head. "If you're implying what I think you're implying, I don't want to hear it."

Hiccup took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down a bit. "Astrid… do you remember the day Kara was born?"

"Vividly."

"As soon as she was out, we thought something was wrong. Because she wasn't crying." he stared at her, his eyes wide with excitement.

"She _was_ crying, we just couldn't hear her." Astrid put her hand on his arm. "Look, I can't explain why he wasn't in the blanket, Hiccup. But he's not out there somewhere. He was born too early. He'd have died soon after birth no matter what."

Hiccup shook his head vigorously. "We don't know that for sure. I mean, we didn't even know about Kara until she was born. You may have been full term…"

"_Stop it_!" Astrid cried, hitting him on the shoulder now. "I don't want to think about it. Why would someone steal our son? It doesn't make sense. Hiccup, you're just trying to cling to this absurd notion… besides, there's no way to find out for sure."

He ran a hand through his unruly hair. She was right. The midwife who had delivered their son had died several years before. She had been old even then; it was only a matter of time.

"Okay… okay, you're right." He felt as though he was being deflated. "Let's just… maybe we should wait and see what happens. Go through her old stuff if we can."

Astrid smiled. "Now you're being more sensible. But not now. Kara will be home any day now and you _need _to help me clean up around here."

"Astrid, she won't care if the house is a mess…"

"Well that's too bad because we're cleaning it up anyway." She sighed. "We need to move on, Hiccup. He died. There's nothing either one of us can do about that. It was a long time ago. But our daughter is alive and she'll be home and I need to do _something_ for her."

Hiccup nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry."

And with that, he followed his wife into the house, his dragon at his heels. He really was looking forward to seeing Kara again. But he still had a nagging doubt. When he had time, he would definitely be pursuing this further.


	2. Chapter One: Homecoming

_It's still October 5__th__, believe it or not. I haven't written so much in one sitting since I started here! Perhaps it's the forced chapter withholding that has made me so anxious to keep writing. I'm not sure. At this rate, I'll be finished with this story in no time at all! But I'm sure I'll slow down at some point. To those of you who finished __Pirate's Cove__ and actually want to keep reading, I applaud you! The sequel didn't really take off like I'd hoped but this will be better. I have a much clearer plan for this story._

_Anyway, enough of the boring notes. Let us begin the epic tale of __Resting Place__!_

_~KateMarie999_

_P.S. It is now November which means I've been writing this for OVER A MONTH! I fail! Sorry about that!_

**Chapter One: Homecoming**

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III didn't usually take naps. He was far too busy for daytime slumber most days. But after an exhausting day of training and a very long flight on Sky, he felt as though he could barely move. Even his prosthetic leg seemed to ache. As soon as he got into his room, he collapsed onto his bed and fell asleep instantly.

He became groggily aware of a funny sort of gurgling noise. Still feeling extremely tired, he tried to allow his body to fall asleep once more but the gurgling got louder. It was probably Sky begging to be fed.

"All right, all right." he said, now becoming irritated. "Just let me wake up first."

He opened his eyes and the first things he saw were giant, green, catlike eyes staring at him. It took him a moment to fully process what he was seeing… big eyes, black scales, and an enormous smile. Comprehension finally dawned on him and suddenly he didn't feel tired at all anymore.

"Toothless!" he cried, sitting up and hugging his dragon.

Toothless made a happy warbling noise and stared at his owner, visibly pleased to be back. Hiccup's heart leaped, racing with glee at being reunited with his best friend at last.

"Oh, I've missed you so much, bud!" he exclaimed, scratching Toothless in his favorite spots. "It's been too long. Let's go flying!"

Toothless let loose an ecstatic roar. Hiccup hopped out of his bed and mounted within seconds. The prosthetic foot still fit perfectly. He had been too sleepy to close the roof that day so it was still open. He could tell the sun was setting and he wanted to see the sunset from atop _his_ dragon.

They took off and Hiccup felt his instincts take over. It was as though the two had never been separated. As they flew over the village, he spotted a very familiar mop of bright red curls shining in the remaining sunlight.

_Kara._

Feeling overjoyed, Hiccup dove and landed right next to his daughter, startling her slightly. She took a few steps back and the two stared at each other for a moment, each noticing the differences in the other.

He had forgotten how dazzling her eyes were. How her nose turned up slightly just like his did (he suppressed the sudden urge to touch his own nose just to make sure). She was also quite a bit more… _developed_ than he remembered. Had she always been so shapely? He couldn't help but feel slightly sad that his little girl had become this gorgeous young woman standing in front of him. It didn't matter to him, just so long as she was safe now. She smiled and her whole face seemed to shine.

"Wow, Kara." he said, smiling back at her. "You look beautiful."

He had also forgotten that she had a tendency to stare at her shoes when feeling nervous or embarrassed. He felt secretly glad she still did that. He dismounted and immediately threw his arms around her, hugging her close. Kara raised her arms and hugged him back just as tightly.

"I missed you." she said and he was surprised to note that her voice, while still sounding very familiar, had changed slightly. It now sounded more like a woman's voice than a girl's.

"I missed you too." Hiccup replied, giving her an extra squeeze.

They finally broke apart but he kept his hands clasped around one of hers. He knew it was silly but he felt as though if he didn't maintain physical contact, she'd disappear. He saw Astrid watching them with a similar smile on her face. Clearly she had already greeted her daughter before he had come. He also noticed a skinny, blonde young man looking at them as well.

"That must be Sven." he said, nodding his head in the young man's direction.

Kara looked over to him. "Yeah, that's him."

Hiccup raised an eyebrow at his daughter. "So that's what you think I was like as a teenager?" he asked, referring to her last letter. "Because… actually you're pretty spot on. I even looked a lot like that."

He was amused to note that Sven _also _had the habit of staring at his shoes when nervous. He wondered if Sven picked it up from Kara. Not wanting to let his daughter go but feeling like it was impolite to ignore his guest, he ambled over to the young man and stuck out his other hand (which happened to be his left).

"I'm Hiccup. Kara mentioned you; you must be her… uhh…"

Sven didn't hesitate in the slightest in gripping Hiccup's left hand with his. "Obnoxious acquaintance." he said, finishing the sentence.

"Obnox… wait, what?" Hiccup turned to Kara, who was smiling mischievously now.

"That's a pretty accurate description. Good boy!" she said, patting the top of his head as though he was a well behaved dragon.

"I do my best." said Sven, acting as though this was high praise.

"I thought you said he was a friend." Hiccup looked between the two of them.

"He is. On alternating Tuesdays." Kara poked him on the shoulder.

"Yep, that's about right." Sven nodded.

Hiccup was beginning to feel as though he had walked in during the middle of their conversation. It was going to take a while to get used to their antics. He looked to the Night Fury Kara had discovered, who was awkwardly pawing the ground behind her owner. He reached out a hand and she placed her nose to it, accepting him instantly.

"Hey there, Sapphire I can see why Toothless was so smitten. You're very pretty." He said, stroking her on the side of the face now. "I didn't know you guys came in colors."

"I know!" Astrid said, walking over. "She's a beauty." She began to join him in stroking the dragon. "What do you think of Sven?" she asked, nodding in his direction.

Hiccup looked over to his daughter's friend, who had just blurted out, "I _told_ you it was contaminated but you never listen to me!"

Kara was responding with a witty retort when Hiccup turned back to his wife.

"I kind of like him." he admitted at last. "He's more than a match for Kara, that's for sure."

"They've been bantering like that the whole time I've been here." Astrid shook her head. "Oh Thor, she's changed so much. I can just tell. She's more confident and intelligent and she's a lot prettier. We're going to have to fight to keep the guys away."

Hiccup laughed. "I'm more than a match for them. Just let them try to keep this raw, manly Viking-ness contained." He flexed his strong but admittedly small muscles as Astrid chuckled.

"Yeah, okay." she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I can see why she wrote that she and Sven wouldn't make a good couple. They seem to enjoy picking on each other too much."

Hiccup nodded as he heard Kara shout "I knew I'd regret bringing you home!"

Sven laughed. "If you hadn't, you'd miss me by now."

"Okay you two," Astrid said, cutting into their argument (though she could tell that both were enjoying themselves immensely). "Do we know where Sven is going to sleep while he's here?"

"You work that out, Astrid." Hiccup turned to look at his daughter. "I want to talk to Kara."

Astrid shook her head, smiling. Once a daddy's girl, always a daddy's girl.

The rest of the village, who had turned up to greet Kara, seemed to figure out that Hiccup wanted some alone time with his child. Kara smiled awkwardly as he once again took her hand.

"You feel comfortable joining me?" he asked at last, patting Toothless' back.

Kara nodded shyly and watched as her father mounted the dragon. He reached out a hand to help her up and she gladly took it. Both knew that she was perfectly capable of getting on the dragon without any help but any physical contact was welcomed now that they were finally together. They took off into the sunset, which was turning into a lovely one at that.

Hiccup put his arms around his daughter, not wanting to let go. He noted that her longer hair was constantly blown into his face but he didn't mind. He had missed her so much.

"You grew up." he said at last. "I don't know how to feel about that."

"Well unless I'm mistaken, you're always going to see me as a little kid. Even when I'm an old lady." Kara nudged her father in the ribs.

Hiccup laughed. "You're right about that. Seems like yesterday I was holding you for the first time and now… I'm so proud of you, Kara."

"Thanks dad."

"I mean it. I don't know what happened while you were gone but your letters have been the highlight of my month or whenever they came. I still have them all. The way you escaped from the castle in Scotland, that was genius!" Hiccup sighed. "Clearly you are your mother's daughter."

"Very funny. I'm not forgetting the time you told me you took out a guard with your prosthetic leg." she reminded him.

"What I didn't tell you was that it was my stupidity that necessitated that particular escape." he admitted, nudging her slightly.

"Oh I'm sure it was. From what I've heard, you had serious trust issues as a teenager. What did you do, tell your captor all your secrets?" she nudged him back.

"Your mother is never going to let me live that down." He chuckled. "And yes, in a roundabout way, I did. Perhaps I should have told you not to trust everyone you meet when you first left."

"Ahh but then I wouldn't have brought Sven home." she reminded him.

"How did you two meet, anyway?" he asked.

As she recounted that exciting tale, he was only half listening. He still couldn't believe that he was riding his dragon with his daughter after all the years they had been away. He had missed her so much, he had hidden himself away for the first few weeks until Astrid dragged him to Dragon Island to get him a new dragon. And he did pick a good one but Sky simply wasn't Toothless. But now he was there with his girl and his dragon, he felt as though his heart was soaring. There was a war to think about but not now. Now was all about Kara and Toothless.

_I hope you liked this. It's kind of lame but I wanted to reestablish the Hiccup/Kara dynamic and throw in the Kara/Sven one._

_My lovely reader, __**EmmerzK**__ wrote a really good paragraph for this chapter. I was unable to find a place to include it but let's consider it canon from Sven's perspective: _

As Kara embraced her father, Sven couldn't stop staring at the man. He honestly didn't know what he expected of the infamous Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third-maybe a striking eight feet tall and muscular with a long beard, carrying weapons galore. But then he supposed now that he actually was seeing him for the first time that he wasn't named Hiccup for nothing; he was just under six feet tall, a few inches taller than Sven himself, was thin but built from years of training and dragon riding, had thick auburn hair, a clean-shaven face and striking olive green eyes. And the more he stared, the more he tried to shove down the thought... he felt as though he was staring at an exact replica of himself.

_Thank you, EmmerzK. You're officially my favorite reader (that I don't know in person). _


	3. Chapter Two: An Impromptu Battle

_Special thanks to my muse, __**EmmerzK**__ for some ideas used in this chapter. As always, thanks to __**Miss Pookamonga**__ for being so good at description that it rubs off on me. I can't possibly ask for better helpers than you two!_

_~KateMarie999_

**Chapter Two: An Impromptu Battle**

Hiccup and Kara landed just as the village was bathed in darkness at last. Astrid had been waiting for them with Sven and was glad to see that her husband didn't keep her daughter out too late. Not that she would have minded a little bit of extra time with Sven. He was a nice boy, really. He even offered to wash the dishes when she was finished making dinner. She let him do this, of course. She had always hated housework and he was so eager. She might even let him clean out the dragon pens…

As he passed his wife, Hiccup leaned in and gently kissed her on the cheek. This wasn't the time or place for some serious making out and they both knew it but now that Kara was back, they felt quite a bit better and thus more amorous toward each other. Hiccup strode into the middle of the room and brought out two chairs.

"You and Sven need to hear about what's been going on." he said, sitting down across from them.

Kara and Sven slowly lowered themselves onto the couch, feeling quite apprehensive for some reason.

"You mentioned a war in your last letter." Kara said, taking a deep breath as she prepared herself for any horrible news.

"Yes I did. The Berserkers and the Outcasts have been attacking Berk on kind of a… well… a schedule." Astrid explained, placing her head in her hands.

"A schedule?" asked Sven, looking quite confused.

"From what I remember, Camgar and Alvin don't seem very… organized. At least not in that way." Kara added.

Hiccup shook his head. "That's the weird part. They attack every three days. The way they attack is completely different, as is the time, but it's _always_ every three days."

Kara furrowed her eyebrows in concentration. In a different situation, Sven might have made a joke but he stayed silent.

"When was the last attack?" she asked, finally looking up at her father.

Hiccup sighed. "Two days ago."

Kara's eyes widened. "So the next one is _tomorrow_?"

She and her father's identical green eyes met and he nodded. She looked away, focusing on her hands.

"I started this war, didn't I? When I ran off."

Astrid placed a hand on Kara's knee. "Absolutely not. This was coming for a long time and you know it."

"But…"

"I don't want to hear another word, Kara." Hiccup leaned in and took her hand. "Camgar has made it very obvious that he intends to kill you for what happened. You _cannot_ go into battle without being prepared. In fact, it's probably best that you don't go at all. You need to take over as chief if anything happens to me and…"

"Don't say that, dad. Don't talk about that." Kara snapped, pulling her hand out of his grasp. "If you or mom died… I can't… I don't want to think about that."

"Kara, this is _war_. People die. And the chief's family is always a target." Hiccup stared pointedly at her forehead and Kara tried not to act as though she could see his eyes in her peripheral vision.

"I can fight." Sven said very quietly.

Hiccup turned to look at Sven who, unlike Kara, was meeting his gaze. There was something so familiar about those bright blue eyes. In fact, though he hadn't noticed it before, he couldn't stop himself from noticing how familiar the young man's whole face was, almost like Hiccup had seen him before like in a dream or as a child… he shook his head and decided to ignore this sudden revelation.

"You don't have to, Sven." He said. "I wish I could tell you that you wouldn't be useful but there's only one tribe fighting against two."

"And I'm going to help this one." Sven insisted, refusing to break his gaze with Hiccup.

Hiccup glanced over at his daughter, who was staring at her clasped hands on her lap. He felt a strange sense of longing, almost as if he wanted to blurt out that he'd just made the war up as a sick joke and that everything was fine so that Kara could still be safe and happy. He didn't like the idea of forcing her to grow up so quickly. But he supposed that was what he had done when he had let her fly off on her own three years ago. And, to look at her now, he would never have known she had ever been childish enough to fly away from them and nearly get herself killed all those years ago. He felt torn, one part of him bursting with pride at how mature and resourceful she had become and the other part desperately missing that baby girl who had stretched out her tiny hand and stroked Toothless when she was only a few weeks old. The little girl who had giggled when he told her the story of the day his wife had met Toothless and didn't notice the stinging in her knee as he applied medicine. He desperately wanted to shield that little girl from any harm, from the pain of losing her friends or possibly her family. But now that little girl was a woman and the time to protect her from the harshness of reality was no longer at hand.

"I think you need to get some rest. All of you." Hiccup said, breaking his gaze at last and gently gripping Astrid's hand. "Sven can sleep down here. Kara, your room is ready for you."

Kara walked to her room as if in a daze. She knew there was a war but it didn't hit her until she arrived on Berk how dangerous her life would become. She had missed her family so much but now she was back, she almost felt like leaving so that they wouldn't be in as much danger. But a part of her knew that it wouldn't do any good. And, if she lost someone, she wanted to be there to say… she gulped as she thought this and forced it out of her mind.

There would be no goodbyes.

* * *

Sven awoke early the next morning. At first, he wondered why he was so comfortable; he usually slept on a few boards on the ship… oh wait… the ship was gone. His spirits lifted considerably as he remembered that there was no Gudrik to tell him what to do. Just Kara and she didn't threaten him when he wouldn't acquiesce. He slowly sat up and stretched. It was probably a little too early for breakfast.

"You're up early." said Hiccup once Sven stepped outside.

The older man was leaning against the house and sketching a Terrible Terror who had scampered over. They stood in silence for a while, Sven watching Hiccup slowly sketch the dragon, when he noticed something.

"You're left-handed." he said, slowly sitting down next to him.

"Yep. It can be a bit of a pain but there's not much I can do about that." Hiccup replied amiably.

"It's just… I'm left-handed too." Sven said, slowly getting out a small slip of parchment and charcoal and attempting to sketch the dragon as well.

Hiccup looked over his shoulder. "So you are."

There was a pause as both men relaxed and sketched the sleek profile of the tiny dragon, who had decided that the middle of the yard was a good place for a nap. Hiccup finally looked over at the younger man, watching him trace the dragon's shape with his left hand. He even held his charcoal the same way…

"Where are you from, Sven?" Hiccup asked, trying to make it sound like a casual question.

"I was kind of recruited by pirates when I was little. Kara helped me get out of that situation. She's… well, she's great. You're probably really proud of her." Sven replied, not looking up from his sketch.

"I am, yes." Hiccup nodded. "What about your parents? Where did they go?"

Sven finally looked up at Hiccup. They stared at each other for a few seconds, both feeling slightly awkward.

"I never knew my parents. I was told they didn't want me." Sven shook his head. "Does it matter?"

"No… no, of course not. I was just… never mind." Hiccup turned back to his drawing. "You know what… no. This is going to seem like an odd question, Sven, really odd but do you know your birthday?"

Sven didn't look up. "September 13th. I just turned 20."

Thoughts of finishing the sketch melted from Hiccup's mind. It hardly seemed possible. In fact, it was impossible. The odds were astronomical. No. He wasn't going to entertain the possibility. Still, it was about time to talk to the midwife's son.

* * *

Astrid and Kara emerged from the house an hour later, Kara's untamable curls billowing out from her head and cascading down her back. Hiccup thought it made her look youthful yet still quite grown up. It was a strange sort of paradox.

They had decided to eat breakfast in the Great Hall instead of on their own. The entire village hadn't gotten to greet Kara yet and by this time, the news had spread. Kara was immediately bombarded with people glad to see her home at last.

"It is splendid to see you again, Miss Haddock!" Tollum chirped as he shook her hand.

"I see you haven't changed a bit, Tollum." Kara grinned. "It really is nice to see everyone again."

"I don't usually partake in idle gossip but I happened to overhear that you brought along an acquaintance." Tollum continued, speaking very clearly.

"I did. This is Sven." Kara gently pushed her friend toward Tollum, who grabbed his hand and shook it as well.

"I am proud and honored to meet any friend of our future chief, Mr…" Tollum chuckled awkwardly. "Sven."

Kara bit her lip to stop herself from laughing. Tollum had always hated referring to people by their first name. It was a strange quirk that everyone had gotten used to at this point. The most amusing moment had been several years ago when Camicazi's five brothers had taken him fishing and the poor boy had to look at each brother specifically to clarify which Mr. Jorgenson to which he was speaking. Tollum had eased up on this quirk for weeks afterward.

Speaking of Camicazi, Kara spotted her over by the far wall looking slightly awkward and holding hands with Madguts. Kara was pleased to find herself not jealous in the slightest. She didn't feel like going over to them but she smiled at her old friend. At this sign of friendliness, Camicazi seemed to relax slightly and smile back.

Just as Kara and Sven were about to sit down for breakfast, a strange sound filled the Great Hall. A second later, the young woman recognized it as the horn that people patrolling the island blew when they saw a threat. Hiccup placed his hand on her shoulder.

"They're early today. I have to go, we have to fight. Kara…" he faltered, hoping that he could get the last few words out. "I… I love you. So much. Now stay here. Do not follow me under any circumstances!"

Hiccup immediately ran out of the Great Hall, along with a huge group of men and women quickly arming themselves, and left Kara and Sven alone with a few children and parents.

Sven looked over at Kara. "Will you follow him?" he asked.

Kara turned to look at him, the familiar glint of mischief sparkling in her eyes. "Of course!"

She hurried toward the door, Sven at her heels. Putting her finger to her lips to signal she wanted him to be quiet, she slowly opened the door just a crack so she could see what was going on.

It was complete chaos outside. A Zippleback (which she later recognized as Barf and Belch) flew dangerously close to the doors and very nearly revealed her location. She immediately spotted her parents on their dragons. Toothless shot a plasma blast at a group of Berserkers, causing them to scatter. Kara thought that a second Night Fury could be even better than just the one but she didn't want to risk running through the battle to get Sapphire.

A flaming arrow came inches from hitting her mother in the face. Astrid dodged it just in time but Kara felt her blood boil.

"You stay here." she said to Sven.

"What…"

But Sven wasn't able to continue his sentence. Kara ran out of the Great Hall and out of sight. He sighed, rolling his eyes and hoping that she wasn't killed.

"What is wrong with…"

Yet again he was interrupted, this time by paralyzing fear. Hiccup had been struck by a large rock that had been lobbed at him and Toothless. Somehow, he became separated from his dragon and, with a horrible yell, began to plummet toward the ground.


End file.
